Glory Days In Cable Access: "Born to Slack" Show Hits Episode #100

It is with a certain amount of humility that I announce that Sunday night marks Episode #100 of the Born to Slack Cable Access Show. Did I say humility? I meant humiliation as Show #100 continues a baffling wave of technical problems that began in late November - unless I’m reading the calendar wrong, too. These are $7,000 dollar TV cameras – at least they used to be – and there are so many different ways to program them that it is truly confusing.
Could that mean we are possibly confused about the actual number of episodes, too? No. (Maybe) First, there is an official label, and that label has hit the magic 100 mark. True, Portland Community Media was closed a few times, and we've rerun a couple of episodes, including just last week due to a technical problem. But with the musical specials I’ve turned in, and the initial pilots, we’re probably over the 100 mark. The main thing is the official Portland Community Media Show Label. Even the guy who works there said congratulations. So how did the landmark episode get screwed up?
Things had been going so well. Show #99 flowed beautifully, which means there was both audio and it was in focus. The white balance could have been better, but so could the iris setting. The end result looked a little like the surface of Jupiter, but in this business, we call that an art shot and move on.
Immediately after #99, I dropped a new tape in. Same settings/ same camera, and off we went. The red recording light was on, I could hear the camera humming away, and we did the landmark show #100. Friday afternoon I went to edit it and there was nothing there.
Here’s where your typical TV producers would run an old show. Not Born to Slack. Me and my co-host, James Shibley, are not typical anything much less TV producers. Instead, for the third time, I took my video camera and went out on the road. The idea was to attend a friend’s party but I arrived after it had ended. Bouncing back yet again, I headed up Mt. Tabor for a riveting half hour of middle-of-the-road comedy and cutting-edge driving. Oh well, we’ve had around 79 shows that worked out of the 100, and that ain’t bad. Plus, I suppose we can take pride knowing that there’s not much difference between the really good ones and the really bad ones anyway.
(Sunday, Channel 22, 10 p.m., Tuesday, Channel 23, 10 p.m., Friday, Channel 11, 11p.m.)
It’s not TV, it’s Cable Access.